Cong says it did not bring coal hub to Goa

14 Nov 201706:12am IST

14 Nov 201706:12am IST

Report byTeam Herald

PANJIM: Congress has refuted the BJP’s claims that it was the former that brought the coal hub to Goa and claimed that Manohar Parrikar facilitated the creation of coal hub by providing large tracts of land for coal handling.

PANJIM: Congress has refuted the BJP’s claims that it was the former that brought the coal hub to Goa and claimed that Manohar Parrikar facilitated the creation of coal hub by providing large tracts of land for coal handling.

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met on Monday and discussed the coal and river nationalisation issues. A resolution was passed deciding to write to the Union Ministry to amend the law and denotify the six Goan rivers from the list of nationalised rivers.

Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar said, “The government is not serious about the people’s issues. Despite people’s opposition the government, instead of curtailing coal imports it is going ahead to increase the handling capacity.”

Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, claiming that it was Parrikar who laid the foundation for the coal hub in the State, said “The offer letter was during Parrikar’s time as Chief Minister. When Arun Jaitley as Union Minister in 2001 had written to the government of Goa that incase Mormugao Port Trust is privatised or corporatised, no objection would be required from the state. He asked Parrikar to hand over land so that no NOC would be required from state. In July 2001 Parrikar handed over the land.”

He said “Chief Minister Digambar Kamat wrote to Jairam Ramesh and he said that coal was creating problems in Goa.”